Volleyball - Game Characteristics

Volleyball is a team sport played by two teams on a playing court divided
by a net.

The sport originated in the United States, and is now just achieving
the type of popularity in the U.S. that it has received on a global basis,
where it ranks behind only soccer among participation sports.

Today there are more than
24 million
Americans who play volleyball.
There are 800 million players worldwide who play Volleyball
at least once a week.

The object of the game is for each team to send the ball regularly
over the net to ground it on the opponent's court, and to prevent
the ball from being grounded on its own court.
The ball is put into play by the right back-row player who serves
the ball by hitting it over the net to the opponent's court.
A team is allowed to hit the ball three times (in addition
to the block contact) to return it to the opponent's court.
A player is not allowed to hit the ball twice consecutively,
except when attempting a block.
The rally continues until the ball touches the ground/floor,
goes "out" or a team fails to return it to the opponent's court
or commits a fault.

VOLLEYBALL SCORING SYSTEMS

RALLY POINT SCORING

The team winning a rally scores a point (Rally Point System).
When the receiving team wins a rally, it gains a point and
the right to serve, and its players rotate one position
clockwise.

The best of three or best of five games will win matches.
Each non-deciding game will be won by the team that
first scores 25 points with a minimum two-point advantage (no scoring cap).
If there is a deciding game, it will be won by the team that first scores 15 points with a minimum two-point advantage (no scoring cap).

SIDEOUT SCORING

Only the serving team may score a point, except
in the deciding game when rally-point scoring is used.
When the receiving team wins a rally, it gains the right to serve
(also scoring a point in the deciding game), and its players rotate
one position clockwise. Rotatation ensures that players play at
both the net and the back zone of the court.

A team wins a game by scoring 15 points with a two-point advantage
and wins the match by winning the best of three or five games.
In the event of a 16-16 tie, the team scoring the 17th point
wins a non-deciding game with only a one-point advantage.
In a deciding game there is no point cap.